Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for securing a bracket to a solar panel rail support structure, while providing an electrical bonding path between the bracket and the support structure. More specifically, the apparatus provides a novel and improved nut with a serrated surface in combination with a bolt with an enlarged end like t-bolt with a serrated surface that is capable of penetrating the respective oxidation surface layers of the bracket and the rail guide. The combination is typically used to secure a bracket, and as described herein by way of example, an L-shaped bracket. By employing the apparatus at various locations along the roof in a linear fashion, the rail support structure can be properly installed so that an array of solar panel modules to be installed.
Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the prior art in the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that the prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
The installation of solar panel arrays on residential roofs can be arduous and time-consuming. Depending on the array design, the components required to install the array can make the installation process even more difficult. Many of the assembly components require special tools or are generally difficult to install because they are utilized after the solar panels modules are arranged or positioned on their support elements. This is particularly true when the elements must be installed on a roof that links to a rail guide for supporting the solar panel array.
In a typical support rail guide system, solar panel modules are arranged across the top of several rail guides. This typically occurs, for example, by using mounting clamps that join two solar panel modules along the top of the rail guide. The rail guides in turn are supported by flashings that are connected by using a support bracket between the flashing and the rail guide. A typical support bracket is in the shape of an “L”, but can be any suitable shape that serves to connect the flashing to the rail guide.
When connecting the support bracket between the flashing and the rail guide, a nut and bolt combination is typically used. The present invention employs a combination bolt with an enlarged end and nut that not only secures the bracket to the rail guide, but also provides an electrical bonding path between the rail guide and the bracket.
Existing solutions are typically limited by their inability to easily and precisely secure the bracket to the rail guide while using extra bonding washers or bonding components, while also creating an electrical bonding path. One example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,995 issued to Herb. The '995 patent discloses a nut and bolt combination that has an elongated member 4 that can fit in a mounting rail 3. The elongated member has a recessed portion 18.1 and 18.2 that is adapted to receive holding projections 17.1 and 17.2 respectively when screw 8 is tightened into the elongated member. The screw can also have indentations 38 (FIG. 4b), but these indentations are provided solely to engage servo components 33 to form a locking mechanism. The '995 patent does not teach or suggest a combination nut and bolt wherein the bolt has an elongated member such that the elongated member and the bottom surface of the nut include raised portions for penetrating the surface layer of metal objects to create an electrical bonding path between them. The '995 patent also does not disclose that the elongated member of the bolt can be inserted lengthwise in a slot of a solar panel rail guide, engage the rail guide so that raised portions on the elongated member penetrate a surface treatment layer of the rail guide when the nut is tightened, and have the raised portions of the nut engage a bracket that supports the rail guide and penetrate the surface treatment layer of the bracket as well, which creates an electrical bonding path between these objects. The present invention overcomes the limitations of the '995 patent.
The present invention overcomes these limitations and offers a solution that provides a nut and bolt combination that secures a support bracket to a solar panel rail guide slot that creates an electrical bonding path between the rail guide and the bracket that is easy to install, use, and manufacture.